Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1887-04-21
Three Love Letters.
From the Christian Union.

From the Christian Union.
In the inside pocket of the dress
coat found a woman's kid glove that
had once been white but was yellow
and spotted with age and three letters
tied together with n Gingy white rib
bon. | united the ribbon and opened
them here at my desk at home. The
ink was faded and the letters so worn
in their folds that they almost fell to
pieces. They mnst have been folded
and unfolded a great many times.
They were written in a feminine hand,
at a time when such writing was in a
small and running character, much
different from the stiff, irregular and
somewhat unreliable scrawl which
is in vogue to-day; and they bore so
old a date that am violating no con-
fidence in giving them in full:
Troy, June 8, 1s37-DEAR JoHN: ]
know nov sad end sorry you must feel, he.
cause / know how wretehed | am. And we
we're so happy. II it could only have been
as we hoped and prayed. IL is very hard
to think that this can in any way he for
the best; but / suppose we ought to think
SO. Perhaps WI may think so some time
when we talk it all over together, and feel
the happier because We have known how
sad separation is. 1t would be worse,
dear, il ! had lost faith in you or you had
10 me. That would be the worst. Oh. il |
could only see you and tell you that | love
you, | love youl | cannot write, ! am so
miserable and unhappy, and l want youso
much.
Nor need ! write-to tell the tale
My pen were doubly weak.
All what can idle words avail
ITnlnSS Tho haort could anoaI0
BY day or night, in veal and woe,
That heart no longer free,
Must bea the love it cannot show,
And, silent, ache for thee. &.
TROY, June IA, 1S37.-DEAREsr JOHN:
/ have been trying to imagine the town as
yoa describe it, so that | might fancy that
| were with you. Oh, if | could be! L. is
so lonely. watch at the window until it
seems that | must see you. Down by the
bridge | found n place that you cut with
your knife when we waited there one night
and tried to plan for the future. leaned
my cheek against the notch in the post, and
kissed it and cried when / thought how far
away you we're, and how long it might be
before could see you again. But it won't
he long, will it2 And you will find walks
that we can take when / come to you. |
am glad there is a river. We can row on
that, as we used to. When we talk it all
over ~by-and-by, this won't seem anything,
will it? But it is very hard to bear now
Martha is very kind. OF course l can't
say much TO her but it is a consolation
TO know that she cares. Tell me more
about the place. and what you are doing.
| want to know all about it, and feel that
| am with you. Once more, dear, / love
you, Hove you" c.
Troy, July s, 1S37-MY DEAREST: We
are to leave here. | do MT know why, and
| do MT know for how long. / believe that
we are to travel-I don't know where,
and | do MT care. / want to be left here.
What shall / do il | cannot hear from you?
| must find some way. We leave to-mor.
row, and ! am as wretched as can be.
| think OF you, dear, night and day. | can see
you and your room. Can you feel that !
am with you sometimes? ] can't tell when
i can write again, and I am writing this
in my room to send to you to-day. /
shall fin1 some way to write. We are
young yet, dearest, and let us wait and
hope. | am always, always yours. | love
you, / love you c.
These are the letters. 1t was diff
cult at first for me to believe that
they had been written to Brownlow.
He was so old that / could not think
of him as u young man. After ] read
them | leaned back in my chair and
tried to imagine him as he must have
been when these letters were written
to him, and to picture him standing
by the bridge with "C' and cutting
the post with his knife. And then |
fell to imagining the story. What had
caused the separation? Why were
there but these Shree letters? Had
she forgotten him? Had she died?
Here are the letters;you may tell your
own story, and have no excuse for
not being perfectly satisfied with it.